Our Memories    That's Why I Love You oneshot
by Delilah Dreamer
Summary: Fast forward to Rachel and Finn's senior year of college. He's messed up and she's upset. How in the world can he make it up to her this time? The couple takes a walk down memory lane and remembers why they fell in love in the first place.


**(Author's Note: A lot of the memories in this story are based off of an RP that I'm part of. They are in no way shape or for anything that has happened on the show and are purely the creation of two girls who like to pretend they're Rachel and Finn on facebook.**

**Also, I don't own Glee, Rachel Berry, Finn Hudson, or Kurt Hummel)**

Finn had messed up. Again. And Rachel was overreacting. Again. But what else was new? The point was that Rachel had been hurt by Finn's actions, and it wasn't looking good for him this time. Rachel and Finn had known that it would be hard to keep up a relationship once they were both at college. Rachel had gone off to NYU to study all aspects of the theatre, but Finn had stayed much closer to home. He had gotten a football scholarship to OSU where he was studying to be a music teacher. The distance was hard, but they somehow managed by sending each other text messages throughout the day and Skyping late into the night so that they were falling asleep with each other despite the distance.

But the distance was still almost unbearably difficult for them. And Rachel had let the distance between them become the cause of their latest fight.

December 18th was Rachel's birthday. Her birthday always had been December 18th, and it would always be December 18th. But for some reason, Finn forgot all about Rachel on her 21st birthday. And Rachel was a little more than slightly ticked off this time.

"I had to study for one of my finals, Rachel," he told her over the phone the next day. "That final counts for fifty percent of my grade. I had to pass that final. You know how important being a teacher is to me."

"I know," she told him. "But you could've called. All I wanted for my birthday was to be able to talk to you, and I didn't even get to do that. I hate it when you let me down like this, Finn. I'm gonna go. I have stuff to do before class tomorrow."

And she hung up. Just like that. Without waiting for an "I love you" or even a "goodbye," she was just gone. And that was when Finn knew that he had really messed up. Rachel always told him she loved him no matter how mad she was at him. And he had no idea how to fix it this time.

When Finn arrived home from campus the next day, Kurt was there waiting for him. "What did you do this time?" his stepbrother asked him with the sass that was synonymous with the name Kurt Hummel. "Rachel has been blowing up my phone with texts about how upset she is. And she only does this when she's mad at you."

"Hey Kurt, how've you been?" Finn asked pulling his bags out of the car and ignoring the question. This was the only downside to being the stepbrother of your girlfriend's best friend; whenever you had a fight with the one, the other knew instantly and was there to call you out on your crap.

"Quit avoiding the question. What did you do?" Kurt slammed down the trunk of Finn's car.

"I kinda maybe sorta forgot to call her or text her on her birthday." Finn blurted out. "And before you freak out on me too, in my defense, I was studying for a final, and I was freaking out so I forgot what day it was."

"Is that all?" Kurt laughed. "From the way she was texting, you would think that you had shot Barbra Streisand or something. But then again, this is Rachel we're talking about. Everything is ten times worse than it seems."

"I don't know man. When I talked to her yesterday, she was really upset. She didn't even sound that pissed. She was just sad."

"I'm not saying what you did isn't bad. You royally screwed up on this one, Finn."

"I know. I know," Finn sighed. "But what am I supposed to do? I can't hug her and tell her she's beautiful like I usually do until she comes home, and I don't think I can stand having her mad at me for three more days."

"I don't know. You'll just have to think of something."

"C'mon." Finn begged, "You always know exactly what I should do in these situations."

"Oh no, I'm not helping you this time. I've helped you far too much over the years as is." Kurt told him. "You guys have been together since the middle of your junior year of high school. The end of sophomore year actually if you don't count that one time you broke up. You're a college senior now. If you can't figure out how to patch things up with your girlfriend on your own after being together for five and a half years, maybe you don't deserve said girlfriend."

"I don't want to lose her. She means the world to me."

"I know. And that's why you need to figure this one out for yourself. I've sent you far too many texts on what to do in a fight, and I can't be your fairy godfather forever. It's far too stressful, and I cannot rock the bald look like dad can." Kurt laughed.

Finn took what Kurt had told him to heart. Here he was, a grown man going to his stepbrother for relationship advice. And there was only so much Kurt could do to help him. He'd taken the easy way out of his fights with Rachel ever since they had gotten together. Kurt had always been there to text him the perfect thing to say to help with the situation, and Finn couldn't really remember a fight where Kurt hadn't told him how to fix things. What was wrong with him? That's not how a relationship was supposed to work. He didn't see Burt texting any of his buddies about how to fix things when he got in a fight with Finn's mom.

Finn spent most of that night in a restless state trying to come up with a way to make things better with Rachel, and it proved to be much harder than he thought it would. But after a long while, he knew what he wanted to do. And he wanted to do everything as perfect as possible and as soon as possible.

It was around 4:00 PM on December 22nd, and Rachel was running around her apartment getting everything she needed to pack for her trip home for the holidays the next morning. She had taken her last final that morning and was glad to be done. One more semester, she would be a college graduate. But she wasn't happy. Finn had forgotten all about her on her birthday. She understood the finals thing; she was going through it too, but she still remembered to call him when she said she would. She hadn't heard from Finn since the fight they'd had, and she missed him.

While stuffing sweaters into her suitcase, she heard a key turning in the lock of her front door. Her roommate had only left for home fifteen minutes earlier, so Rachel assumed it was her coming back to grab something she'd forgotten. Marina had always been kind of flighty that way. "Hey, Marina!" Rachel called out as she headed out of her room, "Did you forget something?"

Turning the corner, Rachel was shocked to find that it wasn't Marina standing in the entryway, but Finn instead. "Finn!" Rachel squealed as she ran to give her boyfriend a hug. She let him hold her in his warm embrace for a moment before she remembered that she was angry with him and pulled away. "What are you doing here? How did you get here? How did you get into the apartment?" she bombarded him with questions.

"I wanted to surprise you. A bus. Spare key under the potted plant outside your door," he replied with an adorable smile. "I feel really bad about forgetting your birthday, and I wanted to do something to make it up to you."

"So you took a bus to New York?"

"Yeah, I did. Tonight is your special night. We can do anything and everything you want, and I promise I won't complain about anything."

"Did you really go through all of this trouble just so I wouldn't be mad at you?"

"Of course I did," he laughed. "Is it working?"

"Maybe," she smiled biting her lip. "It's just so nice to see you. I missed you so much." Rachel decided to abandon her anger for the moment. Instead, she pulled Finn into another a hug. His hugs were warm and loving, and falling asleep in his arms was something she missed terribly when she wasn't at home. A hug would have to suffice for now.

"I missed you too." Finn told her with a smile. "And I really am sorry about the other night. I don't know what I was thinking . . . so, what do you want to do first? Everything is up to you tonight."

"I need to finish packing before we can go anywhere." Rachel told Finn crossing her arms over her chest. It was too hard to stay mad at him when he was doing wonderful things like taking a bus out to see her. "I put it off until the absolute last minute again."

"Do you want me to help you with anything?" Finn asked.

"You can sit on my bed and keep me company while I throw things into my bags like a crazy person." Rachel led the way down the hall to her room where it looked as if a tornado had hit. Clothes were thrown all over the place with drawers hanging half open. Her bookshelf was an unorganized mess of course books, awards, musical scores, and DVDs. Every available surface in the room was covered with something Rachel needed to pack.

"Some things never change," Finn laughed when he saw the state of her room.

"What are you talking about?" Rachel asked.

"Remember when I helped you pack for Bocha? Your room was the messiest I had ever seen it."

"Bocha. I can't believe we're still referring to our L. A. trip as Bocha five years later. And of course I remember," she laughed. "You spent more time trying to find those footie pajamas than actually helping me pack. And that was also the day that we decided we were going to rule the world together."

"And I still believe that we'll be the best emperor and empress of the world."

"The very best."

When Rachel started stuffing more clothes into her suitcase, Finn noticed his old high school football jersey lying on her bed.

"I didn't know you still had this," Finn smiled holding it up for her to see.

"I sleep in it every night," she told him with a small smile. "It helps me remember you when we aren't together. I miss you less when I'm wearing it." She went to take the jersey from him so she could pack it with her other things, but he pulled her into a hug instead.

"You're the cutest thing ever. You know that, right?" Finn held Rachel close to him and smiled at the thought of her wearing his football jersey. Another memory from their relationship that Finn was happy to recall, Rachel had looked so sexy leaning up against his door frame wearing nothing but his football jersey and her little with ankle socks. That was definitely one of his favorite memories of her.

"I know," Rachel replied returning his hug. "You tell me so all the time."

The rest of the packing went relatively quickly. Once Rachel had placed the last item in her suitcase and zipped it up tight, Finn asked her what she wanted to do next.

"I'm starving." She told him. "And there's this great little café around the corner. After that, maybe we can go ice-skating in Central Park?"

"Of course," Finn replied. "Anything you want."

"How's Lucy?" Rachel asked Finn over dinner. Lucky Lucy Berry-Hudson was the yellow lab puppy Rachel had given Finn as a gift when they were in high school. They were like Lucy's parents, and they referred to themselves as her mommy and daddy all the time. "You get to see her so much more often than I do."

"She's doing really well," Finn started. "She still loves giving kisses, and it's obvious that she really misses her mommy."

"Well, her mommy misses her too," she smiled. "And mommy misses daddy very much as well."

Finn reached across the table and held Rachel's hand. "Daddy misses mommy too."

"We really should stop with this mommy and daddy talk in public," Rachel told Finn. "People are going to start to think I'm pregnant again." Remembering the rumors that Jacob had started when she first got Lucy for Finn, she giggled. What had seemed like such a tragedy back when it happened seemed so hilarious now. "We might have to get Crowley to fake a pregnancy again."

Finn gave Rachel's hand a small squeeze and laughed with her. "Crowley's a great guy. There aren't many dudes that would pretend to be pregnant with another dude's baby to help a friend."

"He's a cocky English gentleman. His brain works differently than most."

"Doesn't he live somewhere around here? I remember him saying he was going to some music school in New York."

"Yeah, we still hang out sometimes when he's not too busy being the world's greatest cellist" Rachel replied. "He wanted to take me out drinking for my birthday saying that it's some sort of tradition to get hammered when you turn twenty-one, but I don't really drink so he bought me a cupcake instead."

"You don't drink? What about those virgin cosmos thingies you made for me in high school?" Finn asked with a smile. The memory of the day he first decided that he kinda liked Rachel flashed through his mind. She had been helping him with his musical range, and she had set up a little space on the stage with pillows and a blanket for them to have a snack. She had looked so adorable with that little bit of her cosmo smeared on her lip, and when she had told him that he could kiss her, that's when he knew he wanted to be with her in some way. Her kiss had been better than any kiss he had ever had up to that point, and he had run away from her thinking of the mail.

"I drink the non-alcoholic stuff," Rachel smiled recalling the same memory. "Alcohol can seriously mess you up as an actress."

When they were finished eating, Rachel and Finn walked hand in hand to the ice skating rink in central park just chatting about the little things. It was just like it had been back when they were in high school where they could talk about anything and everything with each other. Memories of packing for their "Bocha" trip flashed through Rachel's mind as they walked. They had talked about everything that day from taking over the world to creepy fairy tales to how they were somehow like Agent Booth and Doctor Brennan from Bones. It had been perfect between them back then. It was still perfect between them now, and Rachel couldn't help but wish that it would stay that way forever.

Finn was not most graceful person when it came to ice skating. Being so tall, there was just so much of him to flail around and lose his balance. But, when he was holding Rachel's hand, it was easier. However, he wasn't perfect, and after a sharp turn, he completely lost his balance and ended up falling flat on his back pulling Rachel down on top of him.

"Are you ok?" Rachel giggled as she stood up and tried to help Finn get back to his feet.

"I'll be fine," he laughed. "Just bruised my ego a little bit."

Rachel stretched up and kissed Finn's neck remembering how much he liked that. "Feeling better?" she smiled.

"Much better," he said smiling at her kiss. Then, he bent over kissed her lips. "C'mon," he started. "Let's go for a walk. I'm far more coordinated when I'm not on ice."

Walking through central park at night was magical to say the least. There was a light snow falling, and the world just seemed white and wonderful at that moment. After walking for a while, Finn and Rachel ended up by the Alice in Wonderland statue.

"I absolutely love it here," Rachel announced. "There's just something about this statue that reminds me of being a little kid. Alice in Wonderland was one of my favorite books when I was little. My dads would read a chapter or two to me before I would go to sleep each night. There was something about the nonsense of the story that I found particularly appealing."

"I always liked Tweedledee and Tweedledum." Finn looked down at Rachel with a smile. 'It's now or never,' he thought. He leaned up against the statue and motioned for Rachel to do the same. Once she was next to him, he turned to her. "I got you something for your birthday," he told her.

"You didn't have to get me anything." She smiled. "You showing up here today was enough for me."

"I wanted to get this for you though. I've actually had it since August. I've been waiting for the perfect time to give it to you." Finn's hand closed around the tiny jewelry box in his coat pocket. "Close your eyes and hold out your hand."

As soon as Rachel had followed his directions, he pulled the box out and placed it in the palm of her hand. "Now open your eyes."

Rachel's hand closed around the little black box as her eyes popped open. A smile lit up her face. "Oh Finn," she exclaimed as she started to open the little box, "You didn't have to . . ." She had started to tell him that he didn't have to buy her any jewelry when she actually saw what was in the box. A classic solitaire diamond set on a simple, thin, silver band shone in the moonlight. "Is this what I think it is?" she asked tears welling up her eyes.

"It was my mom's," Finn told her. "My dad gave it to her back when he first proposed. My mom says that he told her that she was the only woman that could make him happy, and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. And that's exactly what he did. And I'm hoping that this ring will be a good omen for us. You see, when I told my mom that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, she gave me this ring. She told me that my dad would have been proud of me for getting a girl like you, and my dad would have loved you just as much as I do. She said she wanted you to have this because she felt like you were a part of our family in a way no one else could ever be." He paused for a moment and rubbed the back of his neck trying to decide what he wanted to say next. "Do you remember the promise you had me make to you that first night in Bocha? I promised you that I would always be there for you no matter what happened between us. No matter how bad things got, I would always be there. Well, we've had our ups and downs, and I've kept my promise through it all. Like our junior year. You were so scared when that pregnancy test came back positive. I sat through all of those doctor's appointments with you scared to death, and when you miscarried, I felt your pain too. I never once left your side. I've been right here, by your side, loving you unconditionally through it all, and I don't want there to ever be a time when I can't hold you close to me and make everything seem better." Finn took the ring out of the box, got down on one knee, and took Rachel's left hand in his. "So, will you, Rachel Imogen Berry, allow me to keep my promise by marrying me and making me the happiest man in the world?" He slid the ring onto her finger and smiled up at her.

Tears of happiness welled up in Rachel's eyes as she smiled down at her boyfriend. "I . . . I don't know what to say," she grinned. For once in her life, Rachel Berry was at a loss for words.

"Say yes."

"Of course I'll marry you, Finn." Rachel grinned from ear to ear allowing her tears to slide down her cheeks. Rachel wrapped her arms around Finn's neck as he stood up, and he wrapped his arms around her waist lifting her and spinning her around as they shared their first kiss as an engaged couple.

"I love you, Rachel Berry," Finn said holding Rachel in his arms.

"And I love you, Finn Hudson," Rachel smiled as she leaned in for another kiss.

And that was a new memory.


End file.
